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Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Media & Congress Still Missing the Big Legal Point of the Gunwalker Scandal: it was a conspiracy to illegally export weapons to a foreign country.

Hillary. Conspiring to violate the laws she swore to uphold. What did she know and when did she know it?

International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) is a set of United States government regulations that control the export and import of defense-related articles and services on the United States Munitions List (USML). These regulations implement the provisions of the Arms Export Control Act (AECA), and are described in Title 22 (Foreign Relations), Chapter I (Department of State), Subchapter M of the Code of Federal Regulations. The Department of State interprets and enforces ITAR. Its goal is to safeguard U.S. national security and further U.S. foreign policy objectives.

For practical purposes, ITAR regulations dictate that information and material pertaining to defense and military related technologies (for items listed on the U.S. Munitions List) may only be shared with U.S. Persons unless authorization from the Department of State is received or a special exemption is used. U.S. Persons (including organizations) can face heavy fines if they have, without authorization or the use of an exemption, provided foreign (non-US) persons with access to ITAR-protected defense articles, services or technical data. . .

All U.S. manufacturers, exporters, and brokers of defense articles, defense services, or related technical data, as defined on the USML, are required to register with U.S. Department of State. Registration is primarily a means to provide the U.S. Government with necessary information on who is involved in certain manufacturing and exporting activities. Registration does not confer any export rights or privileges, but is a precondition for the issuance of any license or other approval for export. Registration fees start at USD $2,250 per year.

Under ITAR, a “US person” who wants to export USML items to a “foreign person” must obtain authorization from the U.S. Department of State before the export can take place. -- Wikipedia.

I would like to introduce the uninitiated to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations. Before the Gunwalker Scandal I was aware of it, but only recently have veterans of the Departments of State, Treasury, Commerce and Justice helped me to understand just how important these regulations are to an understanding of the depth and breadth of the conspiracy. In the analysis below I use, largely without attribution, quotes and ideas derived from these experts. If I do not quote them, or indicate their own personal biographies, it is because they wish to maintain their anonymity.

As I have written before, Gunwalker was a deliberate conspiracy to subvert the Second Amendment by using the ATF to facilitate the smuggling of American civilian market firearms to the Mexican drug cartels. There was no "sting," just supervised straw-buying and then the collection of murder statistics from Mexico to make a political point that we needed more restrictions on American firearm owners.

But by focusing on the ATF, the tool in this conspiracy, many have missed the larger point:

While the ATF, and by extension the United States government, did not formally sell (or provide) weapons to straw purchases and physically deliver these weapons across the border to criminals in a foreign sovereign nation, the ATF and the federal government was/were the intellectual author(s) of a comprehensive plan to facilitate the sale and illegal export of weapons to a foreign country. As such, the ATF and the administration are the intellectual authors of a conspiracy to illegally export weapons to a foreign country.

Those exports were a clear violation of US weapons export laws -- ITAR chief among them -- and the government knowingly conspired and allowed those weapons to leave the United States without:

(1) A valid US Department of State Export License,

(2) a valid End Use statement signed by an appropriate Mexican GOV authority attesting as to the use and end destination of the weapons, and

(3) a valid Import License issued by the GOV of Mexico documenting approval for the weapons to enter Mexican sovereign territory.

Thus, given the facts in front of us already from the whistleblower agents and leaked documents, those who originated this program at the highest levels of the administration and the DOJ and ATF senior executive service employees who carried it out were:

(a) complicit in illegal arms trafficking in violation of US weapons export law as codified by ITAR (DOS export regulations), and

(b) complicit in a violation of Mexican law by knowingly allowing the weapons to transit into Mexican sovereign territory.

I am not a lawyer, nor have I done extensive reading in international law, so whether the administration could be found complicit or guilty of arms trafficking under international law (apart from ITAR and Mexican law) is not something I can be certain of. However, according to my sources:

(1) If any individual or any private group of any national origin had coordinated such an operation, the full legal powers of the Mexican government, the US government, and Interpol would have been brought to bear on that individual or group (witness international arms trafficking prosecutions over the last 20 years); each of those government/other entities would have competed to get the arrest and prosecution headline in their national newspapers; that individual or group would have been immediately detained and incarcerated pending charges; charges would most likely be not in the dozens but in the thousands (as each weapon trafficked can be made to count for several if not dozens of individual violations), and all assets (financial and other, whether or not gained from trafficking) would be seized, and

(2) if this were conducted by any number of sovereign countries – in particular any Latin American or African country – perhaps Ecuador facilitating transit/delivery of weapons to the FARC in Colombia, or South Africa providing weapons to a sub-Saharan civil war (create any scenario you wish) – that country facilitating the weapons transit would likely suffer several consequences:

First, The low-level individuals involved, if found by international authorities would be incarcerated (but likely they would never be found),

Second, an international court (and perhaps the the US government under previous administrations) would call for all top level GOV officials (Minister of Defense, Minister of Justice, and perhaps the President – as they are all in the chain of corruption) to be held accountable and tried – and perhaps extradited and

Third, the country in question would be labeled as an international pariah, perhaps sanctioned, and certainly black-listed from purchasing and selling weapons and “bellic materiel” from the “civilized nations”.

Thus – the “who knew what when” and the “who told you not to release material that my office requested” etc. is nice to know but gets away from the real issue. The real issue is that the federal government of the United States of America, through the ATF, was the intellectual author of an illegal arms trafficking operation that violated both US law and Mexican law – and perhaps international law. That is institutional and governmental corruption of the worst kind, above and beyond a few AKs crossing a border.

(a) The US government exported to military armories in Mexico and trafficked to cartels by Mexican military mid-level and high-level officers who divert arms upon arrival at the port of entry or from military armories prior to or immediately after being logged in,

(b) US government-approved arms exported to other Latin American countries and diverted by their militaries (Brasil, Argentina, Ecuador, etc.) to the black market in neighboring regional countries,

(d) directly via container to Mexican ports from Israel, Russia, China, South Africa, and a half dozen others, and

(2) If Mexico were truly “outraged” about this operation they would have filed legal charges against the US in their courts, in US courts, and in the International Court. Normally you just have to “follow the money”; in this case it would be “follow the logic”. There was either a financial or political incentive that benefited Mexican officials. It is hard to understand how such a ludicrous plan could have ever have been proposed in the first place, as logic just does not apply.

As one of my sources said, "This project is much more likely the misguided attempt of a US politician with a political agenda, in conjunction with a few politically ambitious mid-level budget-hungry bureau administrators attempting to grow the agency. That is, concoct a scheme to allow weapons to transit to Mexico, knowing that ultimately those weapons will be found in Mexico, that event in turn would justify the argument that US weapons 'fuel the drug trade', and hence justify not only more stringent US gun laws but more importantly justify a higher budget for the bureau to 'keep America (and Mexico) safe….' (This is) merely an attempt to explain the completely illogical by looking at it logically. While one does not necessarily expect politicians or appointed bureaucrats to perform professionally or logically, they do take actions based upon their own internally generated norms, their own internally generated benchmarks, and their own anticipated reward criteria."

This comment comes from a retired fellow who knows this topic cold.

Subj: ITAR

My first read is mostly agreement with opinion provided.

The issue that still exists what did the Directorate of Defense Trade Control at State Department know of the operation?

My guess is the entire operation was briefed at State and the Assistant Secretary of State for Defense Trade Control was briefed and his approval requested.

Secondly, the Arms Export Control Act via its implementing regulations the ITAR 22 CFR 120-130, do not specifically require the government agency to follow a certain protocol for a Law Enforcement or Intelligence Operation.

The example I gave you regarded the Department of Treasury' Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on uncover licenses for the U. S. Customs Service Office of Investigation operations, involving a target of an investigation that had allegedly violated an embargo by entering into a commercial transaction involving a embargoed nation. That license would grant permission for the Customs Service to conduct the LE operation for the purpose of investigating and prosecuting a embargo violation. (If Mexico was embargoed from receiving certain firearms that were to be "walked" into Mexico, that would apply in this instance.)

Additionally, both the embargo and ITAR violations are specific intent crimes i.e. the government has the duty to prove that the violator knew there was a prohibition and more specifically the instant transaction being investigated and subsequently charged. Proving the specific intent knowledge is done through recorded conversations, business records, prior correspondence with OFAC or State Department regarding the rules of the road. A general intent violation is a bank robbery, everyone knows it's illegal to rob a bank.

Based on OFAC requirements, I believe DOJ/ATF would have briefed the State Department and received its permission to proceed.

As such there exists a file with juicy memos about the operation because it is dealing with the foreign policy of the United States i.e. the Arms Export Control Act-ITAR.

One other point, given the sensitivity and covert nature of this operation and the fact that it involves a foreign country, aspects of it were almost certainly "classified." One result would be that much of the attendant documentation would be classified. Have the congressional been granted access to the "good stuff"?

The US Embassy in Mexico City almost certainly was aware of this operation, or should have been had normal protocols been followed.

It would seem to me that, given the analysis above, it is time for the Gunwalker Scandal to become the subject of hearings by more than just Darrell Issa's little oversight committee. The House Foreign Relations Committee would be a good place to start.

The main point is that this was not just an ATF escapade initiated in a vacuum because the "ATF hasn't had a permanent director." It was a government-wide conspiracy to, among other things, violate the arms export laws of the United States.

HOW DARE YOU link Hillary to this? Just because her Department was complicit in the operation is no reason to suspect she had ANY involvement. After all, she stays busy making sure that Slick's dick doesn't go anywhere it's not supposed to. And besides, SOMEBODY has to console Huma...

Ken Melson has already blown off a scheduled appearance before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. No doubt he would do the same in the lowly House.

Watching Ken over the next few weeks will be a spectator sport. We he renege on the DEAL he made with Hussein: run Gunwalker/Fast and Furious in return for his White House provided ticket to make ASCLD/LAB the forensic US ruling force?

This is simply amazing!: the Government of the USA involved in a crimminal operation of epic porportion! This could cause extensive damage to the Federal Monster that it may never recover from (I hope) if this scandal is as deep as it appears to be.

Rest assured, this conspiracy does go as deep as we believe. Scandal is, to me, the wrong descriptive. Criminal conspiracy seems to fit better. Now ,if they can be brought to ground & punished...... Getting the politicians to take this seriously may be an obstacle.

This could be a great plan "B", if the congress dosen't have the stones to take these SOB's to the woodshed for trying to setup the largest 2nd ammendment violation in history (killing a lot of people in the process). They can appoint a special prosecutor to build a RICO case with ITAR as the complaint.

And just what punishment would Thomas Jefferson or George Washington or ANY of our founding fathers prescribed for this level of betrayal to the Constitution and the People of the United States? What will it take to see REAL action taken, when the biggest MSM news stories are about a Congressman who takes pics of his genitals and a heartless young trollop who killed her own daughter?As long as the cable TV keeps playing the mindlessness will continue. Our forefathers would be ashamed to call us Americans.

I'd lay odds all those sumbitches - Nappy, Holder, Obama - knew about it. Hell, I bet even Calderone was in on it. If they indeed knew, then they are responsible for hundreds of deaths and should be tried and receive the same penalty any other mass murderer would get.

The main point is that this was not just an ATF escapade initiated in a vacuum because the "ATF hasn't had a permanent director." It was a[n executive branch of the federal] government-wide conspiracy to, among other things, violate the arms export laws of the United States.

There seem to be a large number of executive branch of the federal government-wide conspiracies to subvert the Constitution (eg.: content of food for children). Not all of which are supported by acts of the legislative branch, but there are numerous acts of the legislative branch which do (eg.: National Firearms Act of 1934), in fact subvert the Constitution. The record of the judicial branch is a rather pitiful mixed bag of decisions (eg.: Roe vs. Wade as opposed to Heller vs. D.C).

So, it all comes down to MY responsibilities under the Constitution to support (enforce) the checks and balances of the three branches. It is clear that this New Media has a big role in educating, encouraging, and organizing WE THE PEOPLE to bring about balance in our governments at all levels. I can't do it all by myself, but I can be part of the solution and not part of the problem.

For Anonymous at 3:50 PM:Do you REALLY mean that as stated, or do you mean "they are responsible for hundreds of deaths and should be tried and receive the same penalty any other mass murderer" OTHER THAN one of the Only Ones "would get."?

Because, hopefully, you understand the distinction between those two different statements. Witness Vicki Weaver, Kathryn Johnston, Eric Scott, Jose Gurena, and the whole cast of Branch Davidians...

You are absolutely correct about the lack of punishment of government murderers. I will ask though, what did We The People do in the face of the failure of the government that we are supposed to run? We did nothing. We even continue to elect progressive RINOs to office. Look at the last Presidential cycle, we had John McStupid or Barrack Obama. There would have been no difference in where we would be today had McStupid been elected. We deserve the government we elect and the government we allow to exist! I'm sure Mike won't post this but it makes me feel as if I've done one of my many duties as a citizen.

"Progress made under the shadow of the policeman's club is false progress."

I believe that liberty is the only genuinely valuable thing that men have invented, at least in the field of government, in a thousand years. I believe that it is better to be free than to be not free, even when the former is dangerous and the latter safe. I believe that the finest qualities of man can flourish only in free air – that progress made under the shadow of the policeman's club is false progress, and of no permanent value. I believe that any man who takes the liberty of another into his keeping is bound to become a tyrant, and that any man who yields up his liberty, in however slight the measure, is bound to become a slave. -- H.L. Mencken

On the efficacy of passive resistance in the face of the collectivist beast. . .

Had the Japanese got as far as India, Gandhi's theories of "passive resistance" would have floated down the Ganges River with his bayoneted, beheaded carcass. -- Mike Vanderboegh.

In the future . . .

When the histories are written, “National Rifle Association” will be cross-referenced with “Judenrat.” -- Mike Vanderboegh to Sebastian at "Snowflakes in Hell"

"Smash the bloody mirror."

If you find yourself through the looking glass, where the verities of the world you knew and loved no longer apply, there is only one thing to do. Knock the Red Queen on her ass, turn around, and smash the bloody mirror. -- Mike Vanderboegh

From Kurt Hoffman over at Armed and Safe.

"I believe that being despised by the despicable is as good as being admired by the admirable."

From long experience myself, I can only say, "You betcha."

"Only cowards dare cringe."

The fears of man are many. He fears the shadow of death and the closed doors of the future. He is afraid for his friends and for his sons and of the specter of tomorrow. All his life's journey he walks in the lonely corridors of his controlled fears, if he is a man. For only fools will strut, and only cowards dare cringe. -- James Warner Bellah, "Spanish Man's Grave" in Reveille, Curtis Publishing, 1947.

"We fight an enemy that never sleeps."

"As our enemies work bit by bit to deconstruct, we must work bit by bit to REconstruct. Be mindful where we should be. Set goals. We fight an enemy that never sleeps. We must learn to sleep less." -- Mike H. at What McAuliffe Said

"The Fate of Unborn Millions. . ."

"The time is now near at hand which must probably determine, whether Americans are to be, Freemen, or Slaves; whether they are to have any property they can call their own; whether their Houses, and Farms, are to be pillaged and destroyed, and they consigned to a State of Wretchedness from which no human efforts will probably deliver them. The fate of unborn Millions will now depend, under God, on the Courage and Conduct of this army-Our cruel and unrelenting Enemy leaves us no choice but a brave resistance, or the most abject submission; that is all we can expect-We have therefore to resolve to conquer or die." -- George Washington to his troops before the Battle of Long Island.

"We will not go gently . . ."

This is no small thing, to restore a republic after it has fallen into corruption. I have studied history for years and I cannot recall it ever happening. It may be that our task is impossible. Yet, if we do not try then how will we know it can't be done? And if we do not try, it most certainly won't be done. The Founders' Republic, and the larger war for western civilization, will be lost.

But I tell you this: We will not go gently into that bloody collectivist good night. Indeed, we will make with our defiance such a sound as ALL history from that day forward will be forced to note, even if they despise us in the writing of it.

And when we are gone, the scattered, free survivors hiding in the ruins of our once-great republic will sing of our deeds in forbidden songs, tending the flickering flame of individual liberty until it bursts forth again, as it must, generations later. We will live forever, like the Spartans at Thermopylae, in sacred memory.

-- Mike Vanderboegh, The Lessons of Mumbai:Death Cults, the "Socialism of Imbeciles" and Refusing to Submit, 1 December 2008

"A common language of resistance . . ."

"Colonial rebellions throughout the modern world have been acts of shared political imagination. Unless unhappy people develop the capacity to trust other unhappy people, protest remains a local affair easily silenced by traditional authority. Usually, however, a moment arrives when large numbers of men and women realize for the first time that they enjoy the support of strangers, ordinary people much like themselves who happen to live in distant places and whom under normal circumstances they would never meet. It is an intoxicating discovery. A common language of resistance suddenly opens to those who are most vulnerable to painful retribution the possibility of creating a new community. As the conviction of solidarity grows, parochial issues and aspirations merge imperceptibly with a compelling national agenda which only a short time before may have been the dream of only a few. For many Americans colonists this moment occurred late in the spring of 1774." -- T.H. Breen, The Marketplace of Revolution: How Consumer Politics Shaped American Independence, Oxford University Press, 2004, p.1.